Duuno exactly
I have the neat Muscle Cars II, an ex Wheels, 1983 publication on Aussie performance machines. In it was a reprint of a 1972 Wheels article. It was a Torana GTR XU1 202 vs Falcon Superbird (XA Hardtop with 2-bbl StrombergWW, and stock-as -a -rock 302C) with a C10 3-speed automatic, I think. Note that there are lots of typos in early Wheels magazines; The weights and gearing figures were often wrong, but the hand timed acceleration figures were very close.
The cast iron manifold 302 Cleveland was much heavier than the 264 kg quoted for the 351C 4V GTHO engine. There was over 17 kg extra on a stock 351W for a start. And the log headed 250 was about 240 kg. The hardtop was heavier than the sedan by quite a bit. Getting acurate weight figures is critical to the science of speed.
The so-called 240 hp gross of a 302C was just a fabrication. A stock 185 hp gross 265 Hemi Valiant would shut it down. A Pacer would would run away and hide... A 1972 170 hp 250 2V 4-spd would whip a 302C auto, I'm quite sure.
I've already babbled on about the so-called 188 hp 4.9 XD Falcon V8... THERE IS NO WAY THERE WAS 140 KW from that engine. Even with aN 800 CFM Thermoquad, the reports showed the engine was badly matched, and thirsty. A 126 KW 5.0 Holden would cream it (16.4 sec, 4-speed VB SL/E). A 149 kw 5.8 id 15.8 second quarters in a manual XD, and 16.1 seconds on a loaded XE ESP on a 30+ degree centigrade day. Best auto 4.9 LTD was 18.8 seconds!
Someone was telling porkies....Do you own math, and see the truth come out.
